


The World Turned Upsidedown

by Inky_Pens



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:36:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21803764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inky_Pens/pseuds/Inky_Pens
Summary: Jude Duarte fell into her bed as Cardan's wife and High Queen of Elfhame. When she wakes, she is anything but.
Relationships: Jude Duarte/Cardan Greenbriar
Comments: 5
Kudos: 33





	The World Turned Upsidedown

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline is very important here. This is set after TWK. None of the QON events have transpired.

Before I open my eyes, I am hyperaware that something feels wrong. The room smells like musty, like damp earth that has been deprived of sunlight too long. The bed I share with Cardan is all fluff and floral, whisper-soft against my skin and warm from goose-feather duvets. But beneath me right now is scratchy and digs into my skin like hay. It is with that stark realization that I am not in the royal bedchamber at Elfhame but somewhere strange and unknown entirely that my eyes shoot open. I take in my surroundings in a dazed panic. My shoulders sag in brief relief as I recognize the stables on Madoc’s estate. Only one horse remains, but I recognize him immediately. Clove, the cinnamon-colored steed that I trained on because of his quick-agitation and ruthless gait.

A shiver runs through me, and I look down for the first time to find myself in a state of undress, but more disturbingly, I am not alone.

The gleaming read hair is unmistakable. Bile rises in my throat as the last of the dreamless haze dissipates.

“Oh no,” I half-mumble, half-cry. “Oh no, no. Please, no.” With a fierce slap, I strike myself across the cheek, hoping to wake up from this nightmare. But the foxlike creature remains a naked sight before me, slowly coming to consciousness with a wicked grin.

“Another round already, dear Jude? We only just collapsed mere hours ago.”

His words sound like a rushing river through my ears. Somewhere far away, I am vaguely aware of the ache between my legs, a delicious soreness that should not feel so good. I stammer for something—a question, an accusation, I don’t know, but nothing coherent comes out. All the while, Locke watches me. His eyes trail along my body with the kind of familiarity two lovers might share. Frantically, I search for a coverup and grab a cloak hanging over a battered stool. It must be mine with its thin wool and gold embroidery signature of Tatterfell, but I have long-since moved on from having Tatterfell as my personal seamstress. I have access to the best dressmakers in all of Faerie. So why am I wearing this?

“What did you do to me?” I demanded with all the authority of High Queen. “Cardan will have your head, if he’s lucky enough to get it before I do!”

Locke’s expression goes from lascivious to bewildered in seconds. It is easy to believe him like this. It is also incredibly dangerous. “The High King generally takes no issue with whom I bed.”

A livid chill ran through me. I figured as much, but to hear him say it aloud so casually had my limbs shaking with rage. The incredulity of my situation surrounds me, blurs my vision and unsteadies my feet. I feel my breath quickening. Lungfuls of air the do nothing to calm the swell of the panic swirling inside me. “Poison? Did you slip nevermore into my food?”

He puts his hand over his heart in a mocking gesture. “Jude, you wound me. I have never needed to go to such lengths for your body. And, if you recall, you came to me last night. Nearly spilled all our sordid secrets to your sister because you were so wound up.”

I can’t believe I’m hearing this. An affair with Locke? I would never do that to Taryn, despite the betrayals she has done to me. But more importantly, not to Cardan. Cardan, whom I love and who loves me. Who married me last month and declared me High Queen, I would never hurt him this way. I was capable of much. The ability to lie and the inability to succumb to glamour, I knew what betrayal tasted like as its maker and recipient, but infidelity was a custom of the Fey. It was not in my nature. This was not me.

I have no weapon on me, so when I grab for Locke’s throat, it is swift and merciless. The pressure of my fingers against his air supply is a shock that reminds him of who I am and what I will do if I must. “I’m going to ask you one last time,” I grit out between clenched teeth. “What did you do to me?”

But Locke is unfazed, as though he’s seen too many of my outbursts to be offended. He sighs dramatically. This is a bore to him. “Honestly, Jude, we are past the point of playing innocent victim to my big bad wolf.

_You_ came to _me_ last night, in haste. I would have taken you to your bedroom, but you insisted on pleasuring one another under the stars. Really, I think you just wanted Taryn to hear you screaming my name. I’m all for games, pet, but you have me outmatched here. What has gotten into you?”

He cannot lie, and yet none of this is fathomable. “This must be a dream,” I mumble, mostly to myself.

If I hadn’t known Locke better, I might have thought the way he reached for my arm and the concern in his eyes were genuine.

“I need to find Cardan.”

“You are throwing around the informality rather presumptuously today. What reason do you have to go to the High King?”

“He’s my husband, for one, and he needs to know your scheming has—”

“He what? Jude. Come now. Lie down. Are you ill? Feeling feverish?’

I decide to ignore him and go in search for my clothes. What on this green realm am I going to tell Cardan? After all the trust we built, is he going to believe me when I tell him I have no idea how I got here? Will he punish Locke or me? Maybe I should not say anything just yet, not until I figured out what happened to me last night. As I pull my dress over my head—another ordinary garment reminiscent of my days under Madoc’s care—I think back to last night’s events.

We were hosting a revel, another celebration of my coronation and our wedding. Cardan insisted on revels every night until all the Folk in attendance were happy about my promotion, which seemed like such a silly waste of excess resources.

“_You can dance without inhibition, you know. I will keep you safe and stop you when it becomes too much.”_

_I touched my hand to his cheek, caressing the smooth skin in my palm. “You know I am not much for dancing.”_

_He turned his face to kiss my fingertips, one-by-one, saving the one with the missing tip for last, with careful attention, as always. “Ah, but in our bed, you move like a temptress. I should like to see what you can do when your two feet are on the ground and not over my shoulders.”_

_I blushed, as I always did when Cardan became seductive. Would I ever be good at this game? I would never be as good as him, that was given. _

_“Send our guests home for the evening, and I may just show you.”_

_He smiled then, a knowing smile that was warm and kind. “I just want to remove any doubt of the dissenters of your new appointment.” _

_“Oh? Is that what this was now? A promotion? Do I get a wage increase?” His smile did not falter or change. If anything, he was patient while I acknowledged the truth. “The attention just makes me uncomfortable, is all. Cardan, you cannot expect them all to like me. Even those who have no quarrels with me personally would be offended by the very idea of a mortal in any position of power. Let alone married to the High King and given the title of High Queen. We should be meeting with the dissenters and fielding their loyalty. You know, many of them may be persuaded to join Madoc, and we—”_

_Cardan’s lips silenced mine with a gentle but pointedly long kiss. “Can we not enjoy each other, my love, before all the horror starts again? It feels like I only just retrieved you from the Undersea, where I thought I may have lost you indefinitely. I know we must discuss what is to come and plan for inevitable opposition, but for a moment, just another moment more, I wish to enjoy this. Us.”_

_I’d acceded to his request then and vowed not to speak of the concerns growing beneath us for one more evening. The last I remembered, we were dancing—or rather, Cardan was leading and I barely kept pace. Nicasia had tried cutting in, but Cardan skillfully rejected her, much to my internal glee._

I couldn’t recall seeing Locke at all last night, which brokers no explanation for how I ended up here. Was Cardan looking for me? Gods, I needed to get to him before he came here. I could not imagine what state he would be in if he saw the state I was in now.

Once last thing I needed to do. “Swear to me that you will not speak of anything that has transpired between us. If asked, you will find a clever way out of the truth without insinuation or innuendo. Swear to it now.”

Locke stood then, appraising me as I dressed Clove. “Jude, we have been through this before.” I looked away from his gaze that implored me to see something, understand this fucked up situation.

I wasted no time grabbing the hilt of my knife and throwing it into the wall directly behind his head. The blade skimmed his ear and embedded deep into the wood paneling behind him.

“Do not mistake my foolishness for kindness. You swear your silence and convincing diversion now, or I will send the next blade through your eyeball.

With a discernable gulp, Locke made a satisfactory promise that would hold up for now. A pit in my stomach grew, blossomed really until my fingers were trembling with unease. I hoped Cardan would have access to some kind of magics that would solve this mystery. I didn’t spare a backward glance for Locke as I pulled myself onto Clove and made my way home.


End file.
